


The Sea and the Sun

by Sophisticated_Adult



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Axl Is Important, Axl is a little shit, Human AU, In this house, M/M, Mer AU, and X is a cinnamon roll angel, and also Zero is a trainwreck, and i love him for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 18:35:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18816679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophisticated_Adult/pseuds/Sophisticated_Adult
Summary: It's May, so here's a MerMay fic for the OTP ft. Axl.





	The Sea and the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is actually is a few years old at this point, it was inspired by various mer AUs for Transformers (I mean it's right there in the name guys) but there's been enough time & changes that I'm happy enough with it being it's own thing rather than a carbon copy, so...here it is?

It was not perhaps the most noble and dignified act he’d ever done but, frankly, those words no longer applied to him. He was an outcast, an exile, and it wasn’t like he had anything better to do with his time. At least he could help make someone else’s life a little bit easier.

That someone was a human fisherman Zero had taken interest in, and what he did was fill the human’s fish traps with ones he’d caught himself to help him out a little. Not much, not enough for Zero to get noticed or put too much time and effort into, but a small amount to distract himself from his otherwise largely empty life.

One afternoon he was stuffing a slowly flailing crab into one of the metal cages when he frowned. Another trap he’d put a fry into before swimming off to find the crab was empty, but a cage with one he’d caught _before_ that still had its occupant twisting around inside. Why could the human only bring up one fish trap? Didn’t he usually empty all of them at once? It was too suspicious, that was what it was. Zero swam off as he normally did, calm and unhurried, but instead of searching out more prey he hid himself behind a rock that jutted up to the surface; he thought the human probably used it as an outpost marker to keep finding this spot.

For a while there was no movement, save the rocking of the boat and the jerks of the lines and nets. Zero was patient. He had literally nothing better to do. If no-one came by the time the human finished for the day, he’d be…well, not satisfied, because while a fish may be able to escape a trap by sheer luck it wouldn’t be able to close the door behind it. Zero absently ran a hand through his hair, smoothing out knots, and amused himself by flicking his tail to create bubbles. He nearly forgot his original purpose by the time someone approached the boat’s shadow across from him. Zero tensed and held his hands against the rock, watching intently as a small mer swam up to the cages and paused briefly as though deciding what to pick from, then focused their attention on the cage with the crab Zero had caught barely an hour ago.

Hot anger coursed through him. The little sneak!

Zero shot forward and cannoned into the smaller mer, who gave a satisfying squawk as they tumbled over in the water until Zero held him fast, ignoring his struggles as he held him tight against his chest.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He snarled as the other mer stared at him with wide, frightened green eyes. Then he glowed a bright white light, and suddenly Zero was holding a thrashing seal in his arms.

_Selkie,_ he thought, until it changed into a sea serpent that he had to grab at when it was too small to keep in his current hold, and then again into a flailing dogfish.

_Shifter._

Too bad for him that everyone knew what you needed to do in this situation. You kept hold and ignored the transformations until they tired themselves out.

That was easier said than done, but Zero held on through assorted creatures until the shifter started cycling through various mer and humans he didn’t recognise. He was just starting to think that he’d got this when he found himself looking at a human that he recognised as the one blissfully unaware of what was going on underneath the waves below the small boat, gazing up at him mournfully. It startled him enough to loosen his grip only momentarily, but that was enough. The soft expression split into a wicked grin and the shifter shot upwards, transforming as he went back into the mer form he’d originally caught. Zero cursed and swam after him, his strong muscles letting him catch up and latch on to a smooth, dark blue tail with red stripes running down each side. He felt himself get dragged up, and tightened his grip around the slim waist just before the shifter broke the surface.

“No you don’t, you damn thief!” Zero roared, his Mer coming out strange and garbled in the air. The little mer thrashed and splashed, sending up great sprays of water and shrieking something in a language he didn’t recognise.

_“Help! Help!”_

“Stop that!” Zero tried to drag him under, but the shifter seemed to be galvanised by his first escape and fought hard. Except he didn’t seem to be trying to free himself so much as cause as much of a scene as possible, striking the surface and yelling in what Zero vaguely thought might be the same human language as –

Oh, no. Realisation struck him just as another voice called over the water.

_“Hey! What’s going on?”_

Zero froze. The human had started to turn his small boat towards them, abandoning the fish traps that caused all this in the first place. His lapse gave the shifter enough time to drop out under him and dart towards the oncoming vessel.

“Get back here!”

_“C’mon, lemme up, this guy’s trying to kill me!”_

_“R-right! Here, take this-”_

The human bent to fumble for something in the boat just as the shifter launched himself forward – but he still wasn’t fast enough. Zero’s hand closed on his tail again and he slammed down into the water with a yelp and a great spray that must have soaked the human on board. He’d have to apologise later, but for now Zero had more pressing concerns.

“You little runt! He’s the one you’re stealing from in the first place!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Lemme go, please!” the shifter wailed, swapping to Mer to plead his case. Zero wasn’t impressed, especially as he kept on struggling.

“I’m not the one you need to apologise to!”

“But you caught them in the first-”

_“Stop it!”_

The desperate cry stopped both of them. Zero automatically turned his head in the direction of his voice, and even though he saw the oncoming net he didn’t react to it until it enveloped the both of them.

_“I’m sorry it had to come to this, and I’m sure I’m butting my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but killing can’t be the answer!”_

The human gave an impassioned speech Zero didn’t understand a word of as they were reeled in, but the shifter seemed to understand.

“Hear that?” the creature grinned, suddenly calm compared to his wild desperation earlier. “That means he’s on my side and you can’t hurt me.”

“Whatever,” Zero muttered as they were hoisted aboard and sprawled ungainly on the wooden planks, the human’s worried gaze and twisting hands showing that he really wasn’t ready to deal with this.

Zero had wanted to teach the spratling a lesson and get their fish back, not kill him, although in retrospect he may have been a bit too abrupt in his actions.

_“Thanks,”_ the shifter said as the human started to undo the net. _“Hey, I think he’s calmed down, I think it’s OK.”_

_“What happened?”_ the human asked as he helped the shifter out. Zero sullenly curled up in the net, aware that he’d just made an awful first impression to the human he’d been helping out. Of course an onlooker would only see a larger mer attacking a smaller one with no context behind his actions.

_“Uh, I think I might’ve strayed into his territory or something, you know? More_ uncivilized _mers can be big old brutes, and that guy looks like he’s from one of the nastier clans. Check out his shoulder, that’s one of their markings.”_

The human looked over at Zero, who tried to hunch further in on himself. _“I don’t think he’s going to let me, but at least he’s not trying to fight any more.”_

_“Thanks for the save, man. My name’s Axl.”_ The shifter held out his hand, and this caught Zero’s attention. He lifted his head, eyes narrowing as the human took it.

_“I'm X. X Light. Are you okay to go back in?”_

_“Um, well-”_ even in another language the shifter’s laughter sounded fake to Zero. _“You wouldn’t have any extra fish I could have, would you? See,_ runts _like me-”_ he used the Mer for ‘runt’, making sure Zero understood with a knowing glint in his eyes – _“we don’t exactly get the prize catch. ‘S kinda been a...while since I had a good meal.”_

_“Oh, you’re hungry? Let’s see if I have anything.”_

Zero watched as the human moved to the side of the boat and began to tug on the lines that connected to the fish traps – in the end he didn’t have to move too far from his original position, so they were still connected. The first one was pulled up and presented to the shifter like he didn't already know what was in it.

_“Is crab okay?”_

_“Is it!”_

To Zero’s complete astonishment, the human carefully undid the cage door, plucked out the crab, and _gave it to the shifter._ This was too much.

“You’re _giving_ it to him?!” He burst out, not caring in his anger that only one of them understood him and they weren’t the one he needed to speak to. The human startled at his sudden outburst, but the shifter deftly caught the crab before it hit the deck and began pulling its legs out.

“Been ages since I had crab,” the shifter commented, deliberately side-eyeing him and grinning as he swapped languages again. Zero glared and hunched back down, a maelstrom of impotent emotions flowing inside him. There was nothing he could do. He wouldn’t be understood by the one that mattered if there was. What had he possibly thought he could have achieved in the first place? He didn’t even look up when the human next spoke.

_“Hey, is he OK?”_

_“Who cares? Guy tried to kill me. But if he stays put like this, you could get a ton for him on the black market. Thanks for the meal. See you round!”_

The large splash overboard indicated the shifter’s departure, but Zero was past caring at this point, too consumed with his own useless futility. He curled up on himself, rested his forehead on his arms, and stared at the floor.

_“You weren’t trying to kill him, were you?”_ There was a creak as the human sat down next to him. Zero didn’t move. _“You had lots of opportunities back there, but there wasn’t a scratch on him. And you let him go just now. I don’t think you’re a bad guy. For what it’s worth, even though you don’t understand me.”_

The human didn’t seem to be able to handle his stillness. _“Come on, you can’t stay here. Don’t you want to go back to your clan? Oh-! Oh no! What if they reject him because of the human scent? Is that a thing mers do? Oh no, come on, you have to get up! Please!”_

He mustered up the courage to reach out and shake Zero’s shoulders. When this didn’t have any effect, he stood up and walked away. As was right. As was inevitable.

_Nothing Gained._

“Here.”

Zero blinked as his shoulder was gently nudged. He had enough strength left to lift his head.

“My Mer’s not good, but…” his outstretched hands held a fish. Zero’s eyes widened. It wasn’t one he’d caught himself earlier to put in the fish traps, in which case he would have contemptuously rejected it. But he didn’t recognise it.

He glanced up at the human (the real thing this time, part of him was satisfied to note after being fooled by that copy earlier), then down at the small offering. The human gave a small ‘eep’ as the fish was snatched out of his hands, then blanched and looked away as Zero tore into it.

_“W-well, it looks like you’ve got your energy back, at least. That’s good. I probably need to speak to Blues and brush up on my Mer.”_

When Zero was finished he tossed the remains off the side, then looked expectantly at the human to see what he would do or say next.

What he did next was to glance upwards. _“Oh, it’s getting dark. I really need to get going back, OK?”_ He pointed upwards to illustrate his words. Zero obediently looked up to see the darkening sky, realised his meaning, and nodded. The human smiled at him.

“My name is X,” he said, gesturing to himself. His Mer was slow and halting, but it was better than anything Zero could have said to him in any given human language.

“Eh-chck-kusss,” Zero sounded out. The human – _X_ – smiled.

_“That’s close enough! I like the click you added. Gives it a bit of flair.”_ His tone indicated that he was pleased; Zero couldn’t help the warm pride he felt at getting it right on the first try. _“What’s your name? Wait, sorry – ahem –_ what is the name?”

His previous good feeling vanished. Of course X would want to know what to call him, of course, but – but –

How could he tell X his true name and look him in the eye afterwards?

X seemed to catch on to his sudden panic and held his hands up in a placating manner. _“It’s OK! Ah –_ no, later?”

Relieved, Zero nodded. Later. Definitely not _now._ He moved to get out of the net, and X hurriedly bent down to help him. Once free, he pushed himself towards the side of the boat, and allowed himself a last, lingering glance.

_Later._

\---

To Zero’s dismay, a familiar face was waiting the next day by the rock outpost.

“Oh, hey.” The shifter grinned at him. Amid yesterday’s flurry of activity and sulking, Zero hadn’t noticed how young he was. “You wanna go through this song and dance again? You like this guy, right?” He changed, glowing white until he was treading water as X. Thankfully he quickly reverted to his original form when he saw Zero's expression. “And he likes me, so back off or you’ll upset him. Anyway, you don’t understand human language, do you? You need a translator.”

“Get lost. You’ll just talk trash the whole time.”

“Mmmm.” The shifter flicked his tail. “I might not. Yeah, we got off to a bad start yesterday, but you’re interesting.” He moved closer. Zero stubbornly held his position as his personal space was invaded. “Like, what’s with that?” A slim finger unfurled to point at his shoulder. “What’s someone like you doing way out here? You get kicked out?”

Zero glared, his hand unconsciously coming up to the scarred shoulder markings. It still ached sometimes in particularly cold conditions. “None of your damn business, kid.”

“You _did_ get kicked out,” the shifter observed. “Nice. I don’t have a clan either. Name’s Axl.”

“Shifters don’t have clans.”

“Yeah, we’re ‘solitary’” – Axl finger quoted while he filled four syllables with as much sarcasm and derision as he could – “and we freak out other species. So we don’t get to make friends much. But I think you’re in a similar position, yeah? Why else are you hanging out here playing the hunter for a _human?_ I’ve been around mers, you guys don’t mingle much in the wild. So what’s up?”

Despite that Zero was deeply displeased in the direction this was going, Axl didn’t strike him as contemptuous, insulting, or wary as other mer might be towards him (depending on if they thought they could take him in a fight or not and if they had any allies to back them up). He couldn’t find a trace of genuine mean-spiritedness in the chatty tone, just honest curiosity.

“I didn’t get _kicked out_ ,” Zero replied bluntly. “I left. That’s all.”

“‘That’s all,’” Axl echoed back. “Sure thing, buddy. Looks like they didn’t take well to that.”

So he’d noticed the scar wasn’t part of the original marking. Sharp eyes.

He never got the chance to respond as a shadow passed overhead. “Oh, looks like he’s here,” Axl commented, looking upwards. There was a splash and an anchor quickly moved past them on its way to the bottom, followed by more splashes as the fish traps hit the water. Axl turned to him and grinned.

“Bet I can fill these things more than you can.”

“Whatever.” Zero rolled his eyes. As if someone who’d resorted to stealing from a human had any hunting ability to boast of – but at least, he realised, it would mean Axl was getting his own food instead of just waiting for Zero to catch it for him. His eyes narrowed.

“You’re on.”

\---

“Oh! Well, this is a surprise!”

To say X was startled when the two mer broke the surface right next to his boat would be an understatement. He recognised them right away, pleased to see that the younger one was not only unhurt but they seemed to be together. It was probably too optimistic to think the word ‘friends’, but at least there was no violence like last time. Maybe they’d worked things out?

“Hi there.” Axl waved. “Mind if we come up?”

“Sure.” X grabbed a rope and cast it over. He hadn’t had time to call Blues and see if he could get a crash-course in the mer language, but hopefully with Axl they could muddle through it. Axl grabbed the rope and shimmied up like he’d been doing it his whole life, and hit the deck with a wet ‘thump’.

_“Here, you want a hand?”_ Axl called over the side. X couldn’t make out the response but he helped pull up the rope when the small mer started dragging it, and soon Zero, looking not particularly impressed as he was hauled up, joined them.

“So!” Axl said brightly once they were settled. “How’s things?”

“Not bad. I’m glad you two are friends now.”

Axl laughed. “Dunno if he’d call it that,” he snickered, inclining his head at Zero, who scowled at him. _“Hey, you got more fish than I did, quit looking so pissy.”_

“Being so…” X’s lips moved as he tried to follow along. “What was that last word?”

“Uh.” Axl glanced between them. “Annoyed. Anyway, heh, ‘s a good job I’m here to translate, huh? I mean, your Mer’s pretty good for a human, but you’d still be stuck without me.” He practically puffed up in pride. Zero caught X’s gaze and rolled his eyes. X smiled back, but couldn’t help but wonder how much of the conversation the red and yellow mer was actually following along or if he was just going off of body language.

“Yes, I still need to talk to my brother and see if I can get some pointers.”

“Your bro speaks it?” Axl sat up. “Weird. You from a family of mer-lovers, or something?” You did sometimes get humans who were totally obsessed with mers, but X didn’t seem like the type.

“N-no, I – he’s, um, it's a lot of research really,” X explained hastily. “He likes to travel, so he works for a bunch of different aquariums and moves around a lot.”

“Hmm. There’s a decent chance I know him. He wear these big glasses?”

“Yes!” X said, surprised. “His name is Blues.”

“Yeah, he’s –” Axl cut himself off before he called X’s brother a jerk. Even if he was. “All right, I guess. I could teach you better than him, though, and I’m right here, plus you got a real mer here to give tips. _Fancy being a teaching assistant, uh – actually, I didn’t get your name earlier?”_

There was a pause as silence reigned on the gently rocking deck. Zero glanced from one set of expectant green eyes to the other. But somehow, yesterday's shame and terror at revealing his true name didn't surface. That alone was enough for him to make his decision. 

_“Zero.”_

Axl blinked. Well, given how mer names worked as descriptions, there was definitely no ominous double-meaning there.

“Thank you, I – what do you mean, a real mer?”

Damn. Axl had hoped X wouldn’t notice the slip. He squirmed; an exile like Zero had no room to judge, but he _liked_ X, dammit. Zero looked at him strangely. X just looked confused.

“I mean –” Axl sighed. “You got a spare pair of pants?”

“...Yes?”

Axl studied the wooden decking. X took the hint and went to get them. He overheard a hurried argument through the cabin window as he dug through his box of spare dry clothes, but he couldn’t make out the specifics and they both fell silent when he came outside again. The tone of it hadn’t sounded happy.

“Right, then.”

_“He’s being melodramatic.”_ Zero tried to inform X.

“Hey, screw you, buddy. Give ‘em here.” Axl grabbed the worn jeans. Welp. He’d lost more than one friend by doing this. Guess he was just an idiot.

He turned away from them and began to glow white.

“There you have it,” he said when it was over, shoving his newly-formed legs into the jeans before turning around. “Not mer enough for the mers, too much of a weirdo freak for the humans. It’s a super-great life, lemme tell ya.” Axl sat back. “Sorry about getting your pants wet.”

“It’s all right. Axl, you really don’t have to worry about that, I’m not that sort of person.”

“Right,” Axl muttered, feeling kinda dumb for making such a big show of it. “Anyway. You still want those lessons? Save you a phone call. Maybe get him some human lessons while we’re at it. Oh, his name’s Zero, by the way.” Zero tensed; he only really half-listened to the human language when X and Axl spoke it, but he recognised the syllables of his own name.

“Oh! Hello – no, let me try – _hello, Zero, I am X.”_

If X was so accepting of Axl, then perhaps he didn’t have anything to worry about. Zero nodded slowly, the rest of the world fading out as he focused on X. Then Axl chose to cut in.

_“You say,_ ‘hi, X, I’m Zero and I’m a cool tough guy who catches all the fish, look at how amazing my hair is, let’s be best friends forever.’”

X had a nice laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> comments would be very nice, thank you. I may have missed an italics tag somewhere so let me know if the language switching gets confusing. tumblr: <https://of-nyon.tumblr.com/>


End file.
